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Summer 2017
DEFENDERS
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accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. It has also
frequently called on everybody to suppress terrorists and cooperate with the
Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) in order to punish
terrorists. At the present time, the council is faced with a huge number of cases
in which basic human rights have been violated across the world and there are
also cases in which a country’s government has been harboring terrorism.
Conclusion
There is no doubt about the necessity of imposing effective and general controls
on Saudi Arabia’s actions in a way that would cover all criminal aspects of
terrorism, including Riyadh’s support for ideological terrorist groups in the
region and the world. In doing so, attention to salient historical examples,
including the case of the Republic of Nicaragua v. The United States ofAmerica
(1986) with regard to effective control, as well as the verdict handed down by
former Yugoslavia tribunal (1993) with
regard to general control can be very
useful. Of course, these two cases would
appear as unimportant examples of
violence when they are compared with
the vast expanse of terrorist attacks that
have been supported by Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, the role that Saudi-
backed terrorism plays in facilitating
various kinds of international crimes
and violations should not be ignored
at all. These issues do not relieve
Saudi officials of their international
responsibility and do not exonerate them
from blame due to the role they play in
facilitating international violations and crimes. Therefore, there is no doubt
that they must be held accountable before the international community both on
the basis of international treaties that apply to arms deals and the general rules
set by the United Nations, and also in accordance with human rights norms
embedded in the spirit of the UN documents.
Although there is no doubt about responsibility of the Saudi government
with regard to promoting terrorism and systematic violation of human rights,
Western states, specially the UK and the U.S., still continue generous sales of
both conventional and unconventional weapons to the government of Saudi
Arabia. On the opposite, when it comes to other countries, especially Iran,
which enjoys one of the most advanced democracies in the region and the
world, they appear very stingy and even show high sensitivity about selling to
Iran of those articles that have dual use.
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In the meantime, major international bodies responsible in this regard have
shown no concern about violation of basic human rights either from a security
Western states, specially the UK
and the U.S., still continue generous
sales of both conventional and
unconventional weapons to the
government of Saudi Arabia, despite
its systematic violation of human righs